Sunday, 8 April 2007

Smoking while pregnant increases the likelihood of having a girl baby rather than a boy.

"Parents who are smokers when they conceive a child are far more likely to have girls than boys, an extensive study by paediatricians has found. The chance of having a male baby drops by almost half if both parents smoke during early pregnancy, amid fresh evidence that smoking could "kill" male foetuses in the womb.

Smoking not only reduces the chances of conceiving a male child, but could stop male embryos implanting in the womb and cause miscarriages.

While almost 52 per cent of all new-born babies are male in the western world, the proportion of female offspring rises dramatically among smokers. The study into 9,000 pregnancies in Liverpool found a startling imbalance in the number of girl babies among parents who smoke. Mothers who smoked during pregnancy were one-third less likely to have male children than mothers who did not smoke. If the father also smoked, and if factors such as the health and age of the mother were accounted for, the chances of having a male child reduces by almost half.

The research by paediatricians at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine has caused excitement in the international scientific community, which says it raises serious questions about the effect of smoking on population balance.""The research, by a team of paediatricians led by Professor Bernard Brabin, found that substances contained in cigarettes, such as nicotine, inhibit sperm carrying male chromosomes from fertilising eggs."

If you are pregnant, reducing your salt intake is good for your own health and also that of your baby-to-be. - See pregnant mothers

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)